As most of us know, the quantity and quality of inbound links has a pretty significant impact on search engine optimization. All other things being equal, if I have 10 inbound links to my site, from places like MIT, The New York Times and Apple and you have 10 inbound links from places like Joe's toothpick collectors blog, I'll be ahead of you in the search engine results pages.

So it is no surprise that people strive to attain those links—either by themselves or by hiring SEO firms who specialize in such things. Aside from the SEO value, inbound links also bring in referral traffic from sites that appeal to similar audiences.

Assuming you are producing great content—that people find valuable—there are a variety of ways to gain inbound links. Today I'd like to focus on the most basic approach, the direct ask.

Link requests are often ignored.

Webmasters and bloggers ignore the majority of link requests simply because the requesters don't give us a logical reason to follow through. For example, this request came in a few days ago.

"I visited your website and found it to be pretty useful content. I invite you to a link exchange (3-way link*) with our website (s)."

This was the extent of the message. The sender didn't include the link to the site, so I had no way of telling whether the site would be useful or not. The person also mentioned that this would be a link exchange. That's a common request, but I'm not going to give away a link just to get a link in return. If I link to a site, I do so only because it has information that I think you, my readers, will find useful.

* A 3-way link exchange is a gray/black hat trick meant to disguise a reciprocal link exchange from search engines. Since we only link to relevant sites we need not play such games.

Link requests that aren't ignored.

Visiting Case was redesigned earlier this year. It no longer includes this page, so I'm showing this screen capture of the old version for reference.

When I was Webmaster at Case Western Reserve University I received oodles of link requests because .edu sites are in high demand and we had enough content to appeal to a broad array of topical niches. People wanted me to link to everything from hotels and limousine services to other colleges and "get rich quick" blogs. But every once in awhile someone would suggest a link that was right on target.

One such person was the Webmaster for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). He first contacted me to suggest some additional bus routes I might link to on the transportation page for our Visiting Case site. When he e-mailed me he sent me the recommended links to his site AND sent me the url of the page on my site where he thought the links should go. Knowing that these routes would be of interest to visitors, I immediately added them to the page in question. Over the years he would send me new links as routes were changed so that I was able to easily keep the information current.

I really appreciated his efforts because they helped me better serve my audience while also making sure that traffic directed to his site went to the right place. Adding the links was beneficial to all involved.

If you don't want your link request to be ignored, then it helps to follow in RTA's footsteps by initiating a link request that benefits both parties.

Choosing your victim Targeting sites that could link to you.

These cool vinyl critters are produced by Ducobi. I haven't done any package design since the late 1990's, but Lovely Package is a great source for design inspiration.

Let's pretend that you write a lovely little blog about package design.* If you were to embark on a link-building campaign you would probably start by identifying the top blogs and sites geared towards designers—people who would also be interested in your site. In particular you might look for sites specifically aimed at packaging.

After identifying a few plausible candidates such as Package Design Magazine and The dieline package design blog, you should then read through the sites to judge the caliber of the information, and to see if they are drawing in the same sort of readers that you seek.

Next you should ask yourself how your site, or a specific page on your site, would benefit their readers. If you can't come up with a clear and specific benefit then you are better off looking for other candidates.

If you do have a good benefit then you should also identify a place on their site where it would be logical for them to add your link. If no such place exists, it will be hard for them to fulfill your request.

* The folks at Lovely Package have never asked me for a link, nor do they need to. Their site has an Alexa Traffic Rank of 47,211 with 852 inbound links—which means it is already quite popular.

Asking for the link

Once you've made it this far, asking for the link is relatively simple.

The first step is to identify the person at the site who has the power to grant your request. This may be the Webmaster, content manager, an editor or someone else.

Then send that person a politely worded email in which you clearly yet briefly:

• introduce yourself
• describe the content and audience of your site
• explain why linking to your site would be beneficial to their audience
• specify the link you would like them to use
• suggest (not specify) keywords they might use for the link
• recommend a page on their site where you think the link would make sense, and
• thank them for considering your request

If they agree with your reasoning then you may very well get that link. If not then at least you'll know you made a sincere effort—rather than spamming them with a nonsensical request.

LInk Building and Related SEO Resources

I regularly add links such as these at the end of blog posts for two reasons. 1) They help guide you to additional information on the topic. 2) It helps me show appreciation to sites that provide helpful information. They didn't have to ask, they just produced worthwhile content.

• 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity
• 131 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies
• Link building and SEO
• Link Building Pet Peeves That Drive Me Bananas
• Need a Link Building Strategy? Create Content!

Fan Like me on Facebook—Follow me on Twitter

We all know these blog posts don't get written as frequently as I'd like. But that doesn't mean you need to go weeks without hearing me babble. Over on http://www.facebook.com/heidicool, I'm using content curation to share one link per day. At one tip per week day it won't clog your Facebook stream, but hopefully you'll find something useful.

And for more links (and ramblings that may not always be related to the Web) I usually Tweet and reTweet a few (or several) times per day at @hacool.

View Listen Now, Talk Later on Slideshare.

Back in high school we took a senior class poll in which we voted on who was "most likely to succeed," "most likely to end up in jail" and so forth. Your school probably did the same thing. The answers were then printed in the yearbook. In our yearbook, Julia Talsma and I were listed as the responses for "talks least, says most." I don't recall who won "talks most, says least," but was glad it wasn't me.

The same idea applies to social media. "Talks most, says least" is not going to make you popular* on Twitter, Facebook or most other social spaces.

*Popularity isn't our goal, but we do want to forge connections with our audience. They are more likely to listen to us if we also listen to them.

Alas, many individuals and businesses see social media as an extra publishing channel. Our species seems drawn to fast easy solutions, and publishing an RSS feed out to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. seems easy. It is. But it's not always productive. The true value is found in two-way communication. If we start our social media efforts with listening activities, we can learn how our audience perceives us (if they do) and what they want to hear. Then, when we're ready to speak, we'll know what to say.

What we listen for varies by our goals. In a recent client training session I focused on how we could use listening for that client's specific niche. But there are some general principles that can be adapted to a wide variety of use scenarios. On January 25th I gave a presentation, Listen Now…Talk Later: Listening as the foundation of your social media strategy, to our "Local Entrepreneur & Social Media Network Meetup Group" (run by another client) in which I discussed listening in this broader context. After reading this you may find it helpful to peruse those slides as they include screenshots and other examples of what I'll discuss here.

Listening for brand, product and service monitoring.

For marketers and public relations professionals, monitoring is nothing new. They've used clipping services to monitor brand and product mentions in mainstream media, conducted focus groups and surveys among customers and target audiences, and otherwise monitored feedback and opinion for years.

Monitoring our brands and products is important for a variety of reasons. Whether you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or an individual freelancer, monitoring can give you insights into:

• Brand/Product/Service awareness (name recognition)
• Brand/Product/Service perception (what do people think of who you are and what you offer)
• Customer Satisfaction (how happy are current customers)
• Your Competition
• Your Industry
• Opportunities for product/service/customer service improvements
• Opportunities for sales and lead generation
• Market needs (gaps in the industry which you may be able to fill by providing a new product or service)
• Liabilities (product faults, bad press, potential communications crises...), etc.

Now that we're in an era when customers blog and share opinions via Twitter—and media outlets publish their content online—monitoring is easier than every before. Rather than paying for expensive clipping services, we can search online ourselves. If the budget allows, we can also use commercial monitoring tools that can give us far more data than we've had in the past.

In this video a somewhat unscrupulous boss finds a new opportunity to take advantage of buyers after social media listening uncovers a customer service problem related to cow making equipment.

When you listen to what mainstream media and the public have to say about you, your competition and your industry, you can then apply that knowledge to everything from your marketing strategies to product development. For example, If you manufacture machines that make plastic cows, and your listening habits tell you of a growing need for plastic pigs, you can retool your equipment to produce pig making machines and get a jump on your competition.

Or, if a user has found fault with your plastic cow making equipment, you can fix the problem for that customer and put your engineers to work to make sure that it doesn't happen again. If the customer has complained publicly, you can also publicly share how you solved the problem to your customer's satisfaction—thus resolving the issue before the customer feels compelled to share his complaint so loudly that it becomes the most watched video on YouTube.

Listening is only half the battle. You still have to make plans for what you'll do with what you learn. But if you listen, then you can plan…instead of having to react in an emergency when it may be too late.

Listening for content curation.

Just as we listen to what customers think about our products, we can also listen to learn more about their interests. If we can find out what intrigues them, then we can create content strategies designed to serve their needs as well as our own goals. Listening also helps us select the content we share on our blogs and through our social media channels. Many companies just blog about themselves. Their Facebook status updates all relate to product news, usage tips and announcements. If you're Apple this type of content could be interesting enough to draw in readers. But if you manufacture plastic cow-making equipment it probably isn't.

By listening to your target audience (plastic cow and other novelty toy manufacturers) you can find out what else they want to hear. Perhaps they've shown an interest in toy trends or the development of new polymers that can produce more resilient cows. If you keep listening you can find blog articles, news stories and Web sites that appeal to their interests and share them through your social media channels.

When you become the go-to source for the information they seek, you give them a far better reason to follow you than if you only shared information about you.

Listening to converse

Imagine this conversation on Twitter. Here a dog food manufacturer quickly offends his new follower by talking at him, instead of to him. (No dogs were injured in the making of this video.)

The easiest people to listen to are the ones with whom we already have a connection. These include the people who comment on our blogs, the people we follow on Twitter, the friends we make on Facebook, Ning, etc. If we want to make friends, share information with peers, convert followers to customers, and so forth, we can begin to forge these connections by listening to them.

On Twitter this means reading your stream one or more times per day and responding to Tweets that are relevant to your industry or interest. If you have a Facebook Fan page this means visiting your page daily to respond to comments and posts made by fans. How often you do this depends on your own situation.

To those familiar with social media this seems obvious, but for those more accustomed to traditional publishing channels, this is a new idea.

When I was working at Case Western Reserve University I created the Case News Twitter account to share our latest news and press releases. These were (and still are) automatically posted to Twitter via Twitterfeed. I then started following Tweeps who might be interested in the university and followed back those who followed the account (with the exception of spammers).

Once a day (usually during lunch) I would skim through the stream to see what people had to say. If it was something related to Case or academia I would respond. In doing so I could answer questions, wish students good luck on exams, thank alumni for donating, etc. I also added event and other postings of interest that weren't included in the automated news feed. Doing this helped me connect with followers and gave me a better sense of what they wanted to hear from Case. It also showed readers that someone was listening and would respond if they wrote to us.

Many organizations just post without listening. This works fine for services like Twitter accounts that post weather updates. But for organizations that want to use social media to build business, posting without listening and responding can send a message that you don't really care what customers think. It can also lead to a rather boring Twitter stream that customers don't find interesting enough to read. This isn't unique to Twitter. The same principles apply to Facebook, Ning, YouTube, MySpace and others.

If you follow a large number of people you won't be able to read everything. But if you check in once or more per day, read all replies and skim the rest of the updates you'll easily find opportunities to converse.

How to listen: news, social media and related searches

Tools and services such as Radian 6 and Social Mention are designed to help with monitoring, but you can also learn a lot through targeted searches. By searching on brand and product names, keywords related to your industry, competitor names and related topics you can find news stories, blog posts, social media comments, discussion boards and other online resources related to what you are monitoring. Here are a few (of many) possible sites to use for social media and related searches.

• Addict-o-matic (social media monitoring)
• Board Tracker (discussion board search)
• Delicious (social bookmarks)
• Digg (crowdsourcing)
• Google News
• Google Blog Search
• How Sociable? (brand visibility scores - more useful for comparison w/competition)
• Reddit (crowdsourcing)
• Same Point (social media search)
• Social Mention (social media monitoring)
• StumbleUpon (crowdsourcing)
• Twitter Search
• Whos Talking (social media search)
• Yahoo Advanced News Search

You'll notice that some of these are typical search sites while others may include bookmarking and other services. Which of these is best for you will depend on your goals and your industry. Generally you'll find that you can choose a select combination of tools that suits your particular situation. Subscribing to blogs in your industry is also a useful way to find out what topics are hot in your field and discover articles you may wish to share with your followers.

The link to this Simpsons Coke commercial was the most popular message found when searching Twitter for "coke" today. (The Superbowl was yesterday, so it makes sense that a Coke ad would dominate the search results.)

When searching it is worth noting that it is easy to get false positives. If you are "Coca Cola" then most of your results for that phrase will be appropriate—but a search on "Coke" may also bring up posts that have nothing to do with refreshing fizzy beverages. Key word terms and phrases can be equally vague. A search on recruiting may bring results ranging from employment and military recruiting to student recruitment and recruiting for cults. But if you specify something like "executive recruiting" you can get more focused results. You may need to experiment a bit to find keyword combinations that provide the results you seek. For Twitter searches you can also compare your results for plain keywords and commonly used hashtags. #recruiting, for example, is popularly used as a hashtag for recruiting related to employment.

Subscribing and sharing via RSS Readers

Many of the search tools listed above will provide you with an RSS feed for your search. Feeds allow you to subscribe to your search so you don't have to conduct fresh searches each time you want to listen.

For those unfamiliar with RSS, such feeds function like magazine subscriptions. If you subscribed to the print edition of National Geographic, then a new issue would show up in your mail box each month. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, new articles show up in your feed reading software as they become available.

Google Reader is one of the most popular feed readers. Once you sign up for a Google Reader account you can subscribe to blog posts and search feeds and organize them by topics for easy viewing. To read the articles you just check Google Reader on a regular basis as you would check your e-mail account.

Slides 22-30 in the Listen Now, Talk Later presentation include a video and screen shots that demonstrate how one uses Google Reader. Google Reader is but one of many readers available, but most work in a similar manner. NetVibes is another popular choice. Some users also use e-mail programs such as Outlook to subscribe to feeds.

To listen is to learn

Listening takes time, but with the right tools we can find manageable ways to listen. What we learn will then guide us to better serve our audience. Now it's my turn to listen to you. I've only covered the broad strokes of this topic here. If you have more tips and ideas for social media listening, please share them in the comments below.

Social Media Listening Resources

When I pick the related links to share in my blog entries, I try to choose articles that will expand on what I've written, or offer a different perspective or insight, so that you can delve deeper into the topic. While some are found through Google I also find them using the listening strategies I've discussed in this post. The following were found via blogs I subscribe to, Twitter searches, Delicious and Google searches.

• 5 Simple Twitter Listening Tips Every Marketer Should Know by ReadWriteWeb's Elyssa Pallai
• Framing Your Social Media Efforts by Chris Brogan
• Free Social Media Monitoring Tools
• Listening Literacy For Nonprofits by Beth Kanter
• The Five W's of Social Media Listening by Chuck Hemann
• The Importance of Social Media Audits by Jeremiah Owyang

Fan me on Facebook - Follow me on Twitter

We all know these blog posts don't get written as frequently as I'd like. But that doesn't mean you need to go weeks without hearing me babble. Over on http://www.facebook.com/heidicool, I'm sharing one tip per day, usually as a short paragraph with a link to something interesting I've found in the blogosphere. At one tip per week day it won't clog your Facebook stream, but hopefully you'll find something useful. And for more links (and ramblings that may not always be related to the Web) I usually Tweet and reTweet a few (or several) times per day at @hacool. (I also have links to more accounts on My Social Media Profiles page.)

Note to local northeast Ohio readers: The Lake Erie Moose Society is holding its monthly meeting tonight, February 8, 2009. If you blog, or are thinking about blogging please feel free to join us.

Sample page using semantic mark-up as viewed in Firefox.

Sample page using non-semantic mark-up as viewed in Firefox. Give or take a few pixels these look pretty much the same.

Sample page using semantic mark-up as viewed in Internet Explorer 6. As you can see, the banner breaks in IE 6 but everything else looks pretty much as expected. The page also breaks in IE 7 and IE 8 though the IE 8 version looks different. I've included these samples as a reminder to always check sites in multiple browsers.

Sample page using non-semantic mark-up as viewed in Internet Explorer 6. Again it looks almost the same at the semantic version, even breaking in the same manner.

The other day, Aaron Rester posed this question on Twitter: Webbies: any advice on explaining semantic HTML to non-webbies?

I wrote back that I usually show them some source code and walk them through things like using h1 and so forth for headers. That is what I usually do. In fact I'd just done that the other day when I was showing someone the changes I would recommend for search engine optimization (SEO).

But the question made me wonder if my explanations were adequate. If someone doesn't know anything about HTML or other mark-up languages, will such an explanation make sense? Or is there a better way to explain the differences between structural and presentational mark-up to clients and new Web designers?

Why do clients and other non-webbies need to know about semantic HTML?

Typically this topic comes up most often when one is discussing issues related to search optimization and accessibility. If a client needs to enhance their site for SEO, I may be recommending changes to the code that they won't even see when looking at the page in their browser. Understandably they will want to know why they should pay me to do things to their site that they won't notice. The changes we make may not be visually apparent, but they will convey additional information to Web browsers and search engines that can aid accessibility, usability and searchability.

What is semantic HTML?

Semantics is the study of meaning. Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary provides us with a definition that relates closely to how the term is applied to HTML "3 a : the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs; especially : connotative meaning." HTML uses elements that convey structural meaning to Web browsers and other user agents such as search engine crawlers.

Writing a page in semantic HTML simply means that you are applying the appropriate structural elements to the various bits of content on a page. Huh? Code elements act like labels that tell the Web browser what each section of content is. HTML gives us structural elements to indicate headers, paragraphs, lists, tables and so forth. If I want to tell the browser to start a new paragraph, I'll type <p>. If I want to start a new subhead, I'll type <h5>.

Then isn't all HTML semantic?

You would think so, but no. Web browsers can be both fussy and forgiving. I can code the same content in multiple ways that will each look very similar when viewed, but will actually convey differing amounts of information to user agents.

Instead of using an <h5> I could use <p><strong>in front of my subhead and make it look the same as it would using <h5>. Such usage would be considered presentational mark-up. It can affect how the header looks, but it is not semantically correct because it doesn't let user agents know that this is a subhead. If a Web designer applies the incorrect elements to page content, the site may look perfectly acceptable. But it is not passing on vital information that user agents may need to:

• Help a visually impaired visitor navigate the page using screen reading software.
• Tell Google and other search engines what topics are the most important ones on the page.
• Show that you are citing a reference document such as a book.
• Indicate that you are presenting computer code, etc.

Same content, different mark-up

To illustrate this point I've created 2 very simple Web pages, one uses semantic mark-up and one using non-semantic mark-up. Basically the non-semantic version uses <p> for just about everything. When you view the pages through a regular browser you'll see that the semantic and non-semantic versions look pretty similar. They both look normal in Firefox, Safari and Opera, and they both break in various versions of Internet Explorer. You don't see the difference visually until you look at the pages in the text browser, Lynx.

When viewing the semantic page on Lynx, we can see that there is order to the page; it looks a bit like an outline. The menu looks like a menu and the headers standout to provide an introduction to the other text.

HTML elements in action, offering added information to user agents

Text readers for the visually impaired and search engine spiders are getting even more information than we can see in the Lynx semantic html example. They know that each menu link should be distinguished from the next. The use of an unordered list for the menu tells user agents to separate these links in a way that use of <p> does not, and allows users of screen readers to jump through or skip these elements to proceed to the main text. In the non-semantic version this is not clear, a text reader may speak all of those links together, making it more difficult for the user to navigate.

These user agents can also tell that the first header is more important than the second because it has been coded as an <h3> while the second header is an <h4>. Headers are ranked in order of importance from 1-6. Here we're using an <h1> for the site name, the most important header on the page. Search engine crawlers will see words in an <h1> as being more descriptive of the page as a whole. This is useful for search engine optimization, because we can include our keywords and phrases in our various headers to let the search engines know that core topics we are covering on the page. Thus on this page you'll notice that I've used the phrase "semantic HTML" in both the text and subheads (which in this case are <h5>'s.) That said I've not used it in every subhead because having these headers make sense to you, the reader, is still more important than SEO. People come first, then robots.

In this example I've focused on just a few a few of the many HTML elements that are important to semantic mark-up, but hopefully these will give you a clearer sense of how such usage can help SEO and accessibility. Other elements such as address, cite and blockquote can add additional meaning to a page's code. You can learn more about other elements and related issues in the reference links below.

Semantic mark-up, validation and content

It's always a good practice to validate your code to check for errors and potential problems, but site validation doesn't guarantee that you've used the best mark-up for the site. While the validator can make sure you've used allowed elements, it has no way of knowing if you've them in the most appropriate manner. Both the semantic and non-semantic page samples used in this post were produced using valid W3C standards compliant XHTML and CSS. One is clearly better formed than the other, but both also break in Internet Explorer.

Thus it's also important to check sites in multiple browsers and to simply think carefully about how visitors will read the site. If my samples were for real sites, I'd fix the IE problem, but I used it here to remind us that using valid semantic code is just the beginning. There will always be additional details we must consider.

It's also worth noting that, when it comes to SEO, a semantically well-formed site is not a substitute for good content. Search engines such as Google are designed to help users, like you and me, find the most relevant pages for the information we seek. With that goal in mind they have to accommodate a wide variety of coding differences. If your competitor has great content and plenty of good inbound links, while yours does not, then his/her site will still win out, even if the code is atrocious. But if you can produce great content and present it in the appropriate format you will be off to a good start.

Semantic HTML Resources

• The Elements of Meaningful XHTML (presentation showing examples)
• Fangs Screen Reader Emulator
• Guide to Semantic Use of HTML Elements
• Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act Implementation Guidelines for Web-Based Information and Applications 1.0
• More than one H1 on a page: good or bad? (Video by Google's Matt Cutts)
• Semantics in HTML 5
• W3C Semantic Data Extractor
• W3C: G115: Using semantic elements to mark up structure

Recently a fellow on LinkedIn asked about developing Web content for lead generation. His company produces equipment used in manufacturing. This equipment is sold through sales representatives who can work with prospective clients to choose the product best suited to their needs. Thus the goal for his Web site is to solicit qualified sales inquiries from prospective customers.

Generating leads is different than generating direct sales.

If you are marketing books, you can sell directly to the customer via the Web. On a site like Amazon I can look at a product description, read some reviews and make up my mind right away. If the book sounds promising and the price is right, I'll click the "add to cart" button and be on my way.

But what if my purchase represents a more significant investment?

What if I'm shopping for a $500,000 machine that goes "bing." This is not the kind of thing I'll blithely add to my online shopping cart. This is the kind of thing I'll research. Based on the (hopefully) thoroughly prepared needs of my organization I'll start my research on the Web looking for product information, recommendations, etc. The information I find on the manufacturer's Web site, via Google and Yahoo News, on Twitter, etc. will help me narrow down my list of potential vendors.

If you happen to market a machine that goes "bing" and have made my short list, then I'll become a qualified sales lead as soon as I fill out your online contact form. At this point it is up to your sales staff to match my needs to the right item in your product line. If all goes well, I'll buy the machine, it will serve my needs, and the next time I visit your site will be to share ideas, tips and tricks on your customer forum or to buy another machine.

The costs of dissatisfaction—what we want to avoid

Alas, not every story has a happy ending. But the level of unhappiness depends on the situation.

If it's spring and I'm ordering herbs from your online catalog, I have certain expectations. I want the plants to arrive healthy and ready for the garden. If the mint plant I ordered turns out to be basil, I'll be disappointed, but I'll probably just end up making pesto and e-mailing you to see about getting the mint.

If I've bought a machine that is supposed to go "bing" but instead goes "ploing," my unhappiness level goes up considerably. If the machine doesn't perform as expected it could frustrate the staff who operates it, produce inferior products that my customers don't want, increase my costs, decrease my revenues, etc. Who will I blame for my unhappiness? I'll blame you, the manufacturer who made the machine. Who will hear about my dissatisfaction? In this age of social media, it could be anyone. Obviously I'd start by seeing if my sales representative could resolve the problem. But if not, a quick grumble on Twitter, Facebook or a blog can ripple through the Internet quite rapidly.

Now everyone's unhappy including your attorney, sales department, media staff, other customers who begin questioning the quality of their machines, etc. This negative turn of events could lead to a return of the product, a lawsuit, bad press, the loss of my future business and the loss of business from other customers.

If you're a legitimate organization interested in generating repeat business, rather than making a quick sale and skipping town, this is obviously a situation you want to avoid.

Preventing unhappiness—qualifying leads on the Web

With big ticket items much of the decision making is done during the sales process, after the lead from your Web site is turned over to your sales representative. As Web marketers we can't do much about that, but what we can do is manage expectations by providing clear and accurate online material on what our products or services can or cannot do. This will help to insure that the leads we pass onto the sales team are from well-informed consumers who have an actual need for our product or service.

Our job, as lead generators, is to make introductions. Just as a matchmaker vets her clients to ensure they are potentially compatible, we want to vet our site visitors to ensure that they:

• Are in the market for a product or service we offer.
• Can afford to purchase the product or service we offer.
• Wish to make a purchase in the near future (they aren't just window shopping).

We also want to educate our potential customers so they can assess us. They will want to know that:

• Our product or service will serve their particular needs.
• We offer the most efficient and cost-effective solution to their situation.
• It won't require undue amounts of modification to do the job.
• Our customer service team will offer ongoing support to help them get the most out of their purchase.
• They can trust in our quality and expertise both now and in the future.

The material on our site should give our visitors the knowledge they need to determine if our offering has the potential to meet their needs. For example, if you are in the market for a Web site, my Web services page will show you the types of services I provide, and my portfolio and this site overall will give you examples of my work. If you want to dig deeper, this blog and my Planning Your Web Site Tutorial will tell you more about my Web philosophy. From this you can learn that I can develop a site that will serve your academic department, small/medium business, blog, etc. so that you can inquire about how I may help you develop a site suited to your goals.

I don't publish pricing, because there are too many variables involved—you can assume that I'll cost more than your nephew who taught himself HTML and less than some giant uber cool design agency. Not listing prices is common in lead generation because customers often have a budget in mind and may exclude a vendor on price alone. If our actual costs are fixed, we could publish prices to let clients make the choice immediately. But if pricing is flexible, it better serves our clients if we can work with them to find a service or product that fits their budget while still serving their end goal.

It's also important that our sites provide enough information to let customers know if we're not the right solution for them. If my services aren't right for you, it's better for you to know that from the start. If you're the Behemoth corporation and you need a new 15,000+ page site that will require a large team to input the content, write custom programming and shoot video it makes perfect sense that you'd be better served by working with a larger firm.

I'm continuously tweaking my site to better serve the above objectives—and have come up with some new ideas while writing this article—but in the end my site (and yours) must serve the needs of our visitors.

If our Web presence (which may extend beyond our own sites to include social media and news sites) can match qualified parties with the right product or service, while weeding out those who would be better served with something else, then we'll have done our jobs. Our sales team will be one step closer to making a sale that will be satisfactory to both parties.

Content development for matchmaking

This all seems obvious enough but how do we do this? How much information should we provide to entice customers to make an inquiry? If we offer too much information, such as pricing and detailed product specifications might we accidentally turn away customers who would actually be a good match?

That all depends on the product or service we're offering. Each situation is unique, but it all comes down to educating our audience. We have to let them know the core qualities of our offer so they know whether it has the potential to suit them. And we have to let them know where the wiggle room exists in situations like pricing. If there are specific areas or features in which questions may arise, we should use these as opportunities for them to make an inquiry.

College and university admissions Web sites can teach us a lot about this. While university Web sites, as a whole, tend to offer information on almost anything you would want to know about a school, the admissions sites are aimed specifically at recruitment. As we all know, a university education is very expensive. It also requires a time commitment. You'll not only pay a lot to go school, but you'll be living there for at least four years. What you experience in those four years will affect the rest of your life, so picking the right school is one of the most important purchasing decisions most of us will ever make.

Admission sites usually provide a good overview of campus life and academics, but they know we can't make an application decision based on student quotes, course listings and pretty pictures alone. They're also quite aware that they're in the matchmaking business, they want to attract students who will benefit from what they have to offer and they want to accept students who will add value to the school through their research, leadership, volunteerism, personality, etc.

To help students through the process, schools may:

• Ask students to join a mailing list so they can get updates from the university.
• Publish calendars of regional events where students can meet admissions counselors in their hometown.
• Invite students for campus open houses where they can spend a weekend on campus with a current student.
• Blog about the admissions process and what to expect.
• Showcase the availability of financial aid to show that the school is more affordable than tuition would indicate.
• Arrange for them to interview with alumni.
• Help them connect with a sports coach or professor in their field of interest.

These are all opportunities that allow the school to connect with—and help guide—the potential student, just as a sales representative might guide a prospective customer. Each place this information is shown—on the Web—creates a lead generating moment in which the student is given the opportunity to connect online or in person with someone who can answer questions and provide more in depth information.

Admissions officers are well aware of the factors a student considers when choosing a school so they focus on the core factors as areas to generate leads on their Web sites.

But similar information is available in the corporate world. If you're developing content to generate leads, talk to your sales representatives. They can show you what factors apply to your product or service. They may also be able to introduce you to current customers who can give you insights into how they made their purchasing decisions.

Happy endings: educated site visitors are more likely to buy

You may send out e-mails and brochures, but your Web site is online 24 hours a day all year long. For many customers your site is the first impression they'll have of your organization, product or service. If you give them the information they need and offer convenient points for them to make contact you'll have started them off with a good impression and you'll provide your sales/admissions/recruitment team with leads who've already expressed a sincere interest in your product or service.

This will make it easier for the sales representative to match the prospect with the best product or service for his/her needs and make the actual sale. If the sale is made and the match turns out to be well-made then our long-term benefits are greater than the one sale alone. Most of us want repeat business. If we're making heavy equipment we want to sell more of it to our current customers. If they're happy with our products and service they will buy more. If we're a university we want the relationship with our students to continue past graduation. We look to alumni to become donors, volunteers and good will ambassadors for our schools.

We can't achieve all of that with a Web site alone, but we can use our sites to lay the foundation upon which the rest of the relationship is built. If we're generating leads, we're not selling widgets. We're making introductions that could lead to long-term relationships.

What's your story?

Do you have a lead generation story you would like to share? What's worked for your site? If you have tips or best practices, please feel free to share them in the comments below.

Related Marketing Articles

• MKTG 101: Web Content Should Serve Visitor Needs
• Copy Writing: Long vs. Short, Does it Matter?
• Don’t build your Web site in a vacuum

Edu Blogger Scholarship Update

I didn't win the top prize, but I did win one of the two smaller blogging scholarships. Thank you all for you support and kudos to fellow Ohio blog, The Old College Try for the winning entry.

This article is my entry for the 2009 Edu Blogger Scholarship Contest. If you enjoyed this article please click through to the site, each visit from here brings me one step closer to the finals. Thanks!

I've always thought of life as a quest for knowledge. While that might sound like the remarks of an intellectual snob, I just happen to be inquisitive—nosy for knowledge, as it were. I like to know how things work and why, be these things gadgets, ideas or people. Naturally I learn a lot from books but in the past several years, the Internet has become my playground. If I need to know about an evolving Web technology, need a recipe for wonton soup or want to identify the vegetables I bought at the asian grocery I look it up online. Google and other search engines are great for that kind of thing.

But learning isn't always about finding an answer to a specific question. Sometimes it's about exploring questions you didn't know you had, or exposing yourself to new subjects you didn't have time for back in school. That's really the foundation of a liberal arts education. While in school you may focus on your major, but you are also required to study subjects in a variety of disciplines.

Doing so not only broadens your horizons and makes you more interesting at cocktail parties, but it also gives you new perspectives about life, and teaches you different ways of thinking. As we learn about other disciplines we're exposed to new methodologies and approaches that can help us with problem solving and critical thinking—skills that we can apply to our own fields and to life in general. Learning logic and the scientific method can help us evaluate everything from political candidates to T. V. commercials. Exposure to the humanities gives us insight into the human experience and teaches us to be better communicators. All of it adds up to make us better at whatever we are trying to do.

With the resources available on the Internet, this liberal learning doesn't have to end at graduation. Universities publish a wealth of information online, whether it's MIT's Open Courseware or the myriad schools posting lectures on iTunes U. Now you and I can learn about almost any subject one can imagine, from academics and experts all around the globe. And it's all just a few clicks away, right here on the World Wide Web.

Brain food: video lectures, podcasts and related resources worth exploring

Countless resources are available, but here are a few of my favorite places guaranteed to expose you to a wealth of thoughts from leaders in their respective fields.

• BBC In Our Time
• Case Western Reserve University Year of Darwin and Evolution Lectures also available from iTunes U.
• iTunes U (opens in iTunes)
• The Long Now Foundation: Seminars in Long Term Thinking
• Ted: Ideas Worth Spreading
• UChannel: Access to a world of ideas
• University of Bath: Public Lecture Podcast
• WGBH Forum Network

Learning can be fun

While I've been waxing forth on why continued learning is good for you, and why I find it interesting, it can also be quite entertaining—as demonstrated in this video from MyGermanClass.com. Welcome to the world of Ubel Knubel and his freundin, Heidi.

Forthcoming: In a future entry I'll be write about the benefits of providing these types of educational resources on your own Web sites.

As the semester winds down, and the holiday season encroaches, it seems there are more and more events to publicize, greetings to send, end-of-year newsletters to distribute, holiday sales to promote, etc. T'is the season for HTML e-mails. Alas, as many of you know, creating and distributing an HTML e-mail message is far more complicated than building a regular Web site. As we struggled in the days of the browser wars, today we struggle with the myriad ways popular e-mail programs support HTML. Anyone who has had to create an HTML e-mail message, or has received one they couldn't read, knows what I mean. So today I'll present five tips that should help to make your e-mails readable by the masses.

Throughout this article I'll refer to the sample Gothfest 2009 e-mail pictured (in various renditions) on the right. This sample was created with certain features in mind to demonstrate how such an e-mail will render in different programs.

1. Use images to convey a mood or theme, not to present content.

In many popular e-mail programs, the default preference is to have images turned off in incoming messages. Thus many of us receive e-mails with little boxes and some indicator that says "click here to load images." If you are like me, you rely on the remaining text of the message to make you decide if you should bother or not. Recently I received a message from a well-known business magazine in which the only text provided stated only the name of the magazine and its address. The subject line was equally informative in that it said something like "Special News Update from Magazine X."

The rest of the content was contained in .jpg files linked in the message. This is problematic for two reasons:

1. Sighted readers, such as me, have no way to judge whether the message is worth reading (or not) unless we click on the image. If we're busy reading through a long list of e-mails we may just send it to the trash. If the sender didn't care enough to present the information clearly, then why should we care enough to read it?
2. Readers with vision problems who rely on screenreading software have no way to read a message that is part of an image. They are relying purely on the text of the message and any "alt text" provided for the image. This particular message didn't include any "alt text" so the message was lost to such recipients.

We all want our messages to be read. To ensure that they are readable by everyone in your audience, just be sure to include all the important points as actual text. This doesn't mean you can't use images to add visual interest, it just means that your message will be accessible to everyone whether they can see the pictures or not.

In the Gmail screenshot on the right we see a sample message without images. The original file contains two images, a picture of Death and a white background image with shaded edges. Because the content is text-based the main message is available and the alt text provides a description of the missing photo. This would also be readable in a text-only mail program with no colors or styles available.

2. Use Tables for Layout (WHAT????)

Most of us know that tables are meant for tabular data and CSS is meant for style and position. Alas many e-mail programs, including Gmail, don't support the positioning features of CSS. If you want to put text on the left and an image on the right—as I did in the sample— and you can't use the float property of CSS, you're stuck with tables.

To create this layout I made a table that has 3 rows of one column each.

• The top row has a dark background, a green bottom border and contains the title.
• The middle row has a white background and contains another table with one row and two columns.
  • The left column contains a background image, but no background color and features the main text. With images off the white background from the main table will show through so that the text is still easily read.
  • The right cell has a dark background and the Death picture. With images off the picture is replaced with alt text. In our sample this is showing up as black which indicates that the table cell should be restyled to feature a lighter color.
• The bottom row has a dark background, a green top border and the opt-out message. In some of our samples the e-mail is showing up as dark blue which is hard to read against the dark background. In the Macmail version it has been re-styled in a light green that is easier to read.

To get a better idea of how this was set up, view the source code.

3. Use HTML 4.0 Standards Compliant Code to the extent that you can.

Going back in time to use tables makes us feel like we're breaking the rules of HTML, but it is still possible to adhere to standards compliant HTML in e-mail if you use the HTML 4.01 transitional doctype. While adhering to Web standards is a good idea in general, I also find it helpful for testing and troubleshooting e-mail files. When I find a problem in my message, the first thing I'll do is validate the file. This helps me determine if the problem is a simple coding error or if it is due to a feature not supported in one of the e-mail programs I'm testing. By eliminating any coding errors I can then focus on the work-arounds I may need to implement to solve the e-mail specific problem.

4. Use inline styles

Most of us are used to using external or embedded stylesheets. Alas, some programs don't support those. To ensure that your styles aren't ignored, use inline styles to format everything in the document. This takes more time and adds to the code, but will be accepted by more programs. For example, to style the top table cell and the header within, I used the following code:

<th scope="col" width="700" style="background-color:#24333a; border-bottom: 1px solid #87d143; color:#c02c18; text-align:left; font-family: Georgia, serif;" ><h1 style="margin: 10px 30px 10px 30px; letter-spacing:2px;">GOTHFEST <span style="letter-spacing:0; font-weight:normal;">2009</span></h1></th>

To add an inline style to an html element just include style=" " and put your regular CSS information within the quotes.

In this case I styled the top row (which uses a <th> because it is a table header) to have a dark background, green bottom border, red type, left-aligned text and Georgia or other available serif font. The title was put in an <h1> header styled to have 10 px margin on the top and bottom and 30px on the left and right. I also added 2px of letter spacing. I surrounded 2009 with a span styled to use 0px of letterspacing and a normal font weight. I incorporated the letter spacing and the 2009 span changes mostly to see if they would be carried through in the e-mail programs I tested.

Note: When coding for the Web I find padding works better to ensure files work well in IE 6, &, Firefox etc. But I've found that padding seems to fail more often than margin in e-mails, so I use margin to ensure that I retain space between paragraphs in as many programs as possible.

People sometimes worry that they'll lose too much flexibility if they try to stick with Web standards, but this example shows that despite the limited support of CSS in e-mail there is still room for experimentation. These styles worked in most of the programs I tested.

5. Test your mail in several different e-mail programs.

The e-mail standards project provides information on what features are supported by the most often used e-mail programs. These offer helpful guidelines, but the only way to know what will work for your file is to test it in as many different programs as you can. You can do this by installing several programs on your own computer and by enlisting the aid of friends and colleagues. I can access my work e-mail in Outlook 2003, MacMail, Gmail and Case's Webmail, so I send myself messages then check them in each program. I haven't upgraded to Outlook 2007 (as I'd no longer be able to test 2003) so to test that I send messages to my colleague Kim—who patiently lets me look over her shoulder or makes screen captures for me to evaluate.

As my samples indicate, your e-mail will not look the same in every program. That's O. K. The important thing is to make sure that it renders cleanly in each and degrades nicely if images or styles are not available. If you can do that, you will ensure that your message doesn't get missed because of poor formatting.

I can't embed HTML code in Outlook. How do I send an HTML e-mail?

How you send an HTML e-mail depends on your mailing list and the programs you have available. If you're regularly sending mass e-mails to large lists, you may wish to use an e-mail service such as Target X or Constant Contact. There are many such services available. Check with your organization to see if they already have an arrangement with a preferred vendor.

For occasional mailings sent to smaller lists, or via listservs such as those available through https://lists.case.edu, you need an e-mail program that will allow you to insert HTML. Case's Webmail program, found at http://mail.case.edu let's you paste HTML into your message body, but only if you are accessing it through Internet Explorer.

An easier option for most users is Mozilla's Thunderbird, available for Linux, Macintosh and Windows. Thunderbird is free and very easy to install. To send an HTML e-mail just click the "Write" button to compose a new message, type in your recipients addresses and subject line then go to the "Insert" menu and choose "HTML." A box will pop up in which you can past the code from your HTML file.

Learn more about HTML e-mail

• E-mail Standards Project
• CSS and Email, Kissing in a Tree
• How to Code HTML Email Newsletters
• Outlook 2007 change sends HTML email back to the future, for better and worse
• E-mail Standards Project

Until recently I was one of the only nerds who had yet to upgrade to Firefox 3. I'd been waiting until I could find an easy way to install it alongside (rather than in place of) Firefox 2. When I'd tried doing this a few months ago—with the beta version of Firefox 3—it hadn't worked properly, so I'd put the idea on hold.

I mentioned this in a meeting, when a colleague piped up with a simple solution. He suggested using the PortableApps version, a standalone version of the program that can be installed on a Flash drive—for portability—or simply in a directory you designate on your computer. This was so obvious I immediately wondered why it hadn't occurred to me before, but then, practical ideas are like that.

PortableApps.com offers a plethora of portable software solutions—including Firefox—for Windows

Once I got back to my office I hopped over to http://portableapps.com/, looked for Firefox 3, then proceeded to download it. Within minutes it was installed, separately and independently of Firefox 2. When I tried to start it up I discovered that you can't run them both at the same time—I had to close out of 2 to open 3, then close out of 3 to reopen 2—but you can run them on the same computer. This will be tremendously useful if I discover some quirk in Firefox 3—such as an add-on that no longer works and has yet to be updated—or if I need to see how a Web page renders in each version.

That solved the problem for the Windows P. C., but what about the Macintosh?

FreeSMUG: Portable Applications for OSX

Firefox 3 from FreeSMUG (Mac)

A quick Google search turned up FreeSMUG's portable applications section. FreeSMUG offers a portable version of Firefox 3—in several languages—as well as other popular open source programs such as Open Office and Audacity. Those new to many of the Open Source programs available through FreeSMUG can learn more about them through a variety of helpful tutorials available on the site.

FreeSMUG says of its portable applications, "OS X FOSS portable applications are packaged so you can carry around on any portable device, USB thumb drive, iPod, portable hard drive, memory card, other portable device (or also on your internal hard disk), taking your preferences with you." This of course could be handy for any number of reasons, but the ability to run multiple versions of browsers to use for testing Web sites, is particularly useful to me.

Why test in multiple versions of the same Web browser? Why not just upgrade?

As a Web developer, you probably upgrade your browsers fairly often. That's not true of the average user. In many cases the people who visit your site are using the same browser that came with their computer.

The most popular browsers used by visitors to the Web Development Blog this month are:

• Internet Explorer 7.0 - 24.6%
• Internet Explorer 6.0 - 24.3%
• Firefox 3.0 - 12.7%
• Firefox 2.x - 17.8%
• Safari - 5.4%

Interestingly .5% were still using Netscape 4.0, which is over 10 years old!

To ensure that you, my site visitors, can view and use this site with ease, I need to make sure that it works properly in the browsers that most of you are using. This requires testing in multiple browsers and versions.

When a browser releases a minor upgrade, this isn't a big issue. But when a Web browser makes a significant upgrade it can make a big difference. A site that looked fine in version X, may look horrible in version Y.

When Internet Explorer 7 came out, users and developers quickly noticed that many pages didn't render properly in the new version. I.E. 7 was actually more standards compliant than I.E. 6, but developers who had used I.E. hacks to make pages look right in I.E. 6 found they didn't work with I.E. 7. This led to a lot of sturm und drang about I.E. 7 "breaking the Web," as those developers needed to modify those hacks to make their sites work in both I.E. 6 and 7.

Here at Case our templated sites don't rely on many I.E. hacks so they transitioned smoothly from I.E. 6 to I.E. 7. But when I'm building new sites, I may sometimes incorporate new styles or features that I've not used before. This is when I make a point of testing in multiple browsers. Tredosoft's Multiple I.E. Installer provides a convenient way to run different versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP. They also provide information for running I.E. 6 natively on Vista.

Must your site work in every browser available?

No, the Web has evolved enough since 1993 that making a site backwards compatible with every browser version is pretty much impossible. But if you adhere to Web standards, build sites that degrade cleanly in older browsers, and test in the browsers used by most of your readers you should be able to provide a good user experience for all of your visitors.

Web Browse Testing Resources

• Browsershots
• Browser testing CSS and JavaScript
• Browser Tests, Services and Compatibility Test Suites
• CSS: Browser testing order
• Why your site should work on multiple browsers

There comes a time in every Web maintainer's life when the boss or client asks to see the Web stats for the past 6 months/year/5 years or what have you. Ideally you or your server administrator set this up long ago; you—being equally keen to understand the usage patterns of your site, and to use that knowledge to improve your content—check them on a regular basis, and can provide the information immediately.

Then again, if you've been busy building and updating sites, this may be one of those projects that has been patiently waiting on your to-do list. If your server doesn't have analytics software pre-installed, and you've not yet installed any yourself, now—before the boss asks—is the time to do so.

This is particularly important for users who host sites on the main Case server.

Since upgrading the Web server, we have switched from using Aurora Stats to using Google Analytics on our sites. Where in the past you would have run a monthly report using the A.P.A.S. utilities, now you just install your tracking code once—after which you can view your data at any time. (We are also exploring additional server-based analytics software that we may install in the future to augment what is available through Google.)

Getting Started

To begin the process go to http://www.google.com/analytics. If you have an existing Google account you can login here to set up your analytics account. If you don't already have a Google account you can sign up to create one.

Creating your site profile

1. Login to Google Analytics, then select "Analytics Settings"
2. Click on Add Web site Profile
3. Choose your profile type. If this is the first time you are setting up analytics, choose new domain. If you are adding another Web site within the same domain, choose existing domain. In this example we'll choose new.
4. Type or paste in the URL of your site's domain. Note: If your site, like many Case sites, does not reside on the root of the domain, do not include the full path to your site, only include the domain. A complete URL, such as www.case.edu/community, will give you an error message as pictured here. Instead just include www.case.edu or whatever domain you use. (You will modify this later in step 13.)

   

5. Select your location and time zone then click continue
6. On the Tracking Code page, you will see 2 options. Select New Tracking Code (ga.js). This will give you the tracking code for your site. The code will look something like this:

   <script type="text/javascript">
   var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
   document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
   </script>
   <script type="text/javascript">
   var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-1279047-11");
   pageTracker._initData();
   pageTracker._trackPageview();
   </script>

7. Add the code to your site

   Instructions for those on the main Case server

   1. Create a new blank file in Dreamweaver or any plain text editor and copy the tracking number into the file. In our example the number is UA-1279047-11 as shown in red.
   2. Save this file as .googleanalytics. In Dreamweaver select "all files" in the "save as type" dropdown box to make sure no extension is added to the filename. If your program saves it as something like .googleanalytics.html or .googleanalytics.txt simply exit the file and rename it without the extension.
   3. Upload this file to the root or main directory level of your site. The server will use this file to embed the code into your pages.

   Instructions for those on other servers

   1. Copy the full code provided by Google and paste it into the bottom of each of your Web pages immediately above </body>. If you are using server side includes (ssi), templates or some other method for including standard content across your site, you can put this in which ever file controls the lowermost content on your pages. I generally put mine in the bottom of the .ssi file I use to include the footer on my pages.
   2. Upload your edited pages to your site.
8. Click the Finish button. This will take you back to the Analytics Settings page. If you have a site at the top level of your domain and everything was installed correctly you should see "Tracking code installed Waiting for Data" under the status column to the right of your profile listing. Your installation is now complete and you can return in 24 hours to see your data.
9. If, like accounts on the main Case server, your site is hosted in a subdirectory within your domain, you will see "Tracking code not detected" under the status column. This is perfectly normal and will be remedied in the following steps.
10. Click Edit under the Settings column to the right of your profile listing. This will take you to the profile settings for your site.
11. Click Edit in the upper right corner of the Main Web site Profile Information box.
12. Change the name of your profile to one of your choosing.
13. Replace your domain URL with the complete URL for your site. In our example we're using http://www.case.edu/community/.
14. Type in the name of your default page. On the main Case servers we use index.html as the default pages within directories. Other servers may use default.html. If you're not sure, check with your server administrator or Web hosting provider.

    

15. Click Save Changes to return to the Profile Settings page. On this page you can click on "Check Status" to make sure everything is working. It may take a minute or two for Google to process everything after which it should say "Waiting for Data -
    Analytics has been successfully installed and data is being gathered now." Your installation is now compete.

Additional reference materials and instructions have also been provided by ITS as part of the new Aurora Project Administration System (APAS) Toolkit (login required).

Tracking .pdf, .mp3 and other downloadable files

As one of our campus Web maintainers recently observed, Google Analytics doesn't track downloadable files such as .pdf's by default. Google offers a way to do this by adding a small bit of code to each download link, but this requires you to edit each applicable link and move your tracking code towards the top of the page.

If you would prefer to install this on a site wide basis I recommend using the javascript solution offered by Good Web Practices. With this method you simply download their Google Analytics link tracking JavaScript, save it to a scripts directory on your site, and add <script src="http://www.yoursite.com/scripts/gatag.js" type="text/javascript"></script> immediately before the Google tracking code you installed at the bottom of your pages. Those of you using the Case .googleanalytics file method should add this to the bottom of your pages just above </body>—the same way maintainers not on the main server did to add the tracking code in step 7.

Advanced Techniques in Google Analytics

Analytics Resources

• 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features
• Google Analytics Help Center
• Google Analytics Blog
• Google put the anal into Analytics
• Web Analytics Demystified: A Marketer's Guide to Understanding How Your Web
• Wikipedia: Web Analytics

Registration is now open for summer classes at CaseLearns. Whether you're building your first Web site, adding video to your blog or just want to learn something fun, CaseLearns has a number of options available.

The classes listed below may be of particular interest to those developing or maintaining Web sites.

If you are new to Web design and want to learn Dreamweaver, I recommend reading I'm not going to teach you XHTML/HTML, but you should learn it anyway and doing the homework assignment before taking your first Dreamweaver class.

All CaseLearns classes are open to current Case faculty, students and staff, emeriti faculty, alumni, and Senior Scholars. Case affiliates may register if openings are available. Class schedules are subject to change. Please visit the CaseLearns Web site for the most current information.

Adobe Acrobat 8: Introduction

Instructor: Debbie Korodi
Prerequisites: Familiarity with Windows or Mac OS; knowledge of Microsoft Word.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:00am-Noon

Adobe Acrobat 8: Creating PDF Forms

Instructor: Debbie Korodi
Prerequisite: Knowledge of Adobe Acrobat 8.
Thursday, August 7, 2008 9:00am-Noon

Digital Images I: Introduction & Basic Photoshop

Instructor: Jared Bendis
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 3:00-6:00pm

Digital Images II: Advanced Photoshop

Instructor: Jared Bendis
Prerequisite: Digital Images I: Introduction & Basic Photoshop
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 3:00-6:00pm

Digital Images III: Even More Advanced Photoshop

Instructor: Jared Bendis
Prerequisite: Digital Images I and Digital Images II
Monday, July 21, 2008 3:00-6:00pm

Dreamweaver CS3: Introduction

Instructor: Thomas Hayes
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 1:00-4:00pm

Dreamweaver CS3: Intermediate

Instructor: Thomas Hayes
Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:00-4:00pm

Dreamweaver CS3: Advanced

Instructor: Thomas Hayes
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 1:00-4:00pm

How To Make Web Pages Using HTML: Part 1

Instructor: Thomas Hayes
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 1:00-5:00pm

How To Make Web Pages Using HTML: Part 2

Thursday, August 14, 2008 1:00-5:00pm

Introduction to Pachyderm

Instructor: Jared Bendis
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 3:00-6:00pm

Understanding RSS Feeds

Instructor: Brian Gray
Thursday, July 17, 2008 10:00am-Noon

Video Workshop I: Introduction To Digital Video

Instructor: Jared Bendis
Thursday, July 10, 2008 3:00-6:00pm

Video Workshop II: Advanced Digital Video

Instructor: Jared Bendis
Prerequisite: Introduction to Digital Video
Thursday, July 17, 2008 3:00-6:00pm

Step One: Define your site

Click on image to enlarge

I recommend doing this when you first start working on your site. In doing so you will provide key information to Dreamweaver that will allow it to better manage your links and other information.

1. Under Dreamweaver's site menu, choose "Manage sites."
2. Click the "New" button and select "site" from the drop down menu. This will open the dialogue box pictured on the right of this page.
3. Making sure you have the "advanced" tab selected, enter a name in the "Site name" box. This can be any name of your choosing.
4. In the "Local root folder" box navigate to the folder on your local computer or network where you are storing your files for this Web site.
5. In the "Default images folder" box box navigate to the folder within your site folder where you are storing your main images. (Note: This is optional; you do not have to keep all images in this folder)
6. In the "HTTP: address" box type in the url for your site, such as http://www.case.edu/community/.
7. Check the "enable cache" box.
8. Your site has now been defined, but don't click OK just yet!

Step Two: Define your remote server connection

Click on image to enlarge

This step tells Dreamweaver what protocol to use, the location of your server, and your login and password information.

1. On the left side of the dialogue box select "remote info." This will bring up a different dialogue box.
2. In the "Access" box scroll down and select "WebDAV."
3. In the URL box enter the url for your server. On the new Case server that will be: https://www.case.edu:8000/<your network id>/<your group's Aurora account name>. (Don't type the angle brackets, you want an address that looks something like https://www.case.edu:8000/xyz67/departmentx.)
4. In the "login" box type in your username. For Case users this is your Case user ID, not the Web account name you have used in the past.
5. In the "password" box type your password, for Case users this is your Case network password. Click the "Save password" box.
6. Leaving all the other boxes unchecked, you are now ready to click "OK."
7. This will return you to the first dialogue box. Click Done. When this box is closed the "files" panel will automatically open on either the left or right of your open file.

Uploading ("putting") files to the Web server

1. With the files panel open and set to local view, click the blue button that looks like an electrical plug connecting to an extension cord. This will open your connection to your remote Web server. You may, or may not, also need to click on the round arrow button to the right of the plug to refresh your file list.
2. Select files and folders you would like to upload and push the "Put file(s)" button which is identified as an upward pointing blue arrow.
3. In the drop down menu where it says "Local view," switch to "Remote view" to verify that your files have been uploaded.
4. In your Web browser go to your site to ensure that everything looks right.
5. Note: If you would like to view local and remote files at the same time, simply click the expand collapse button to the far right of the other buttons in the panel screen. It has a blue and green bar on the top and a small right pointing arrow.

Downloading ("getting") files from the Web server

1. Downloading is very similar to uploading. With your connection already open, switch from "local view" to "remote view."
2. Select files and folders you would like to download and push the "Get file(s)" button which is identified as a downward pointing green arrow.

Once you've defined your site, the process is pretty easy. Just upload or download files using the up and down arrows, and you're all set!

Other ways to connect via WebDAV.

If you experience difficulty uploading files with Dreamweaver, you may prefer to use one of the following alternatives (these are what I use).

• Uploading files with the WebDrive WebDAV client for Windows
• Introduction to WebDAV: Connecting on a Macintosh
• How to Access Upgraded Aurora Server: instructions on the Case Wiki